From the monthly archives: June 2018

Following a prolonged period of review, Square Mile has taken the decision to remove the A rating of the Legg Mason ClearBridge US Aggressive Growth fund.

This fund follows a very distinct investment style and whilst we acknowledge the approach employed has been somewhat out of favour over the past few of years, it has fallen considerably short of its stated investment objective. A feature of this strategy is its large sector deviations relative to its benchmark, however, more recently stock selection within the team’s areas of expertise (i.e. healthcare), has been particularly weak.

Following the recently announced changes to the management team and structure at Aviva Investors, and the corresponding changes to the named fund managers on the Aviva Investors Multi Strategy Target Return and Target Income funds, we have taken the decision to suspend our ratings on the two funds. We feel that the changes are significant enough that we would like to meet the management team of the funds to discuss their implications more fully before coming to a firm conclusion on how they will affect the funds

Following the news today of the impending departure of Matthew Vaight, manager of the M&G Global Emerging Markets fund, who is looking to pursue other opportunities when he leaves towards this year, we have decided to remove the fund from our Academy. Mr Vaight has been with M&G for over 20 years and has also been head of the team behind this strategy for some time. He has been in charge of this fund since its launch in 2009 and the M&G Asian fund since 2008. We feel this upcoming manager change is significant enough to warrant action being taken and as such have unfortunately decided to remove our A rating and the fund from the Academy.

We have added three new Talking Factsheet to the Square Mile Academy of Funds, featuring Research Managers, Amaya Assan and John Monaghan, reviewing the objectives and risks and giving their views of the funds.

We are pleased to introduce the Liontrust UK Smaller Companies fund with a AA rating and Liontrust UK Smaller Companies fund with an A rating into the Square Mile Academy of Funds.

The Liontrust UK Smaller Companies fund is managed by Liontrust's Economic Advantage team who are well known to us through our coverage of their Special Situations strategy. In Anthony Cross, this fund draws on a highly experienced investor who has been associated with it for over 20 years. We have also closely monitored the progress of Mr Cross' fellow co-managers, Victoria Stevens and Matthew Tonge, who were added to the team in 2015.